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Golden Globe Winner Emily Blunt Stars in “Sicario”

Thursday, September 17, 2015

In Mexico, “Sicario” means hitman. In the intense,
action drama on the fight against drugs, “Sicario,” Golden Globe winner Emily
Blunt stars as FBI agent Kate Macer who
finds herself in the midst of the lawless border area stretching between
the U.S. and Mexico enlisted by an elite government task force official Matt
Graver (Josh Brolin) to aid in the escalating war against drugs.

“Sicario” is
directed by Denis Villeneuve (“Prisoners”), a searing emotional-thriller that
descends into the intrigue, corruption and moral mayhem of the borderland drug
wars.

Even as Kate tries to convince herself she’s on a
hunt for justice, she is thrust into the dark heart of a secret battleground
that has swept up ruthless cartels, kill-crazy assassins, clandestine American
spies and thousands of innocents. Says
director Denis Villeneuve, “Sicario takes a powerful look at black-ops
operations and the Mexican cartels. But this story is also about America, about
the idealism and realism that clash when it comes to dealing with the problems
of other countries.”

“Sicario” explores the journey of an intelligence
operation that pushes the rules to engage with those who don’t play by any. “Kate is tempted by this world,” says Emily
Blunt, who breaks the mold with her portrait of a fierce female character whose
life is in jeopardy throughout every second of the film. “She realizes she was barely scratching the
surface doing things by the book and now she wants to believe she can do
something that will make a real difference.
Yet the very idea of no longer following the rules turns Kate’s whole
world upside down. Nothing makes sense
anymore.”

Kate Macer’s
journey over the border finds her crossing the line in more ways than one. A stickler for order and a workaholic who
prides herself on running a tight, by-the-book operation, suddenly she is
exposed to a world where operatives take on an anything-goes mentality. The deeper she descends into Mexico, the more
she begins to feel she is losing all the moral bearings that drive her. The more she tries to take charge of the
situation, the more she realizes she is losing control.

Emily Blunt, the Golden Globe®-winning English
actress whose memorable role in “Devil Wears Prada” opened more windows to continually
welcome a wide range of roles, has recently played a Special Forces warrior
battling with Tom Cruise in the sci-fi thriller Edge of Tomorrow.”

“Kate is really the moral compass of Sicario,” notes
Blunt. “I was intrigued by her need to
always do things in the right way, by the law.
When she gets thrown into this incoherent world of CIA ops and cartels,
it is completely alien to her. Whereas she’s always been held accountable for
every bullet she fires, they spray bullets.
All the accountability that has been her way of being is gone from this
world, and she is in shock at the whole thing.”

Blunt was intrigued by Kate’s tricky relationship
with Alejandro played by Benicio del Toro: “He is this rather mystical
character and he doesn’t say much. She has her eye on him, and she doesn’t
necessarily trust him. At the same time,
I think he sees in Kate something that he’s lost in himself,” surmises
Blunt. “They have this rather strange,
almost magnetic link that they never fully get to explore under these extreme
circumstances. They’re drawn to each
other in an unspoken way.”

Villeneuve loved watching the chemistry between Blunt
and Del Toro come to a simmer. “This strange yet alluring relationship emerged
from the two of them right in front of the camera and that was very important
for the movie,” he says. “The way Kate
tries to understand this man in a human way, brings out a beautiful, poetic
angle within the violence.”